ABSTRACT
Amsi was born in Mbulu to a family of eight children. Her father was a civil servant posted in the town of Mbulu. When Amsi was five years old, she was taken to live with her maternal grandparents in a village about thirty kilometers southwest of Mbulu. Amsi's story illustrates the primacy of kin in a person's life. Previous accounts of Iraqw have emphasized the importance of space as the key to their social organization. The Iraqw emphasis on spatial orientation was viewed as rather exceptional in Africa, where kinship and descent had been assumed to play the chief role in social and political organization. The organization and meaning of descent and kinship is related to broader cultural ideas about gender and about moral values. Clans are the largest descent groups, and today clans number over two hundred. Clans have control over property, primarily land and livestock, and individuals can appeal to fellow clan members for assistance in these resources.
